Welcome to the Jensen Healey Register

My name is Jim Palmer and I’m the Register Secretary for the Jensen Healey Register. I took on the role from Tracey Messer in April 2017.

My interest in Austin Healeys and in the Club stemmed from a 1969 Mk IV Sprite acquired from my mother-in-law in 1979. It was ten years old then and was my run-about, commuting from my home in Cornwall to college in Plymouth. By 1983 it was undergoing its first re-build, changing from the original dark blue to red, and it was through this I discovered my love of rebuilding cars.

In 1993, I acquired a 1962 Austin Healey 3000 Mk2A, mainly for the plus two seats, to accommodate my growing family. However, I sold this in 2008 as optimism and a good deal of squeezing prevented my teenage children from fitting anymore!

It was not long before selling the 3000 that my interest in Jensen Healeys grew. I’d seen a couple over my years of Club membership and decided that I would try to find one to restore. I purchased my Jensen Healey, GPH162N, through eBay in 2007 though, despite optimistic estimates, it wasn’t until 2013 that she was on the road. I also purchased a later MkII Jensen Healey with the five speed gearbox and later drive train as a donor vehicle and moved this into GPH. I’ve never regretted purchasing and restoring my Jensen Healey. It drives really well and, once I’d acclimatised to the dogleg 5-speed gearbox, have found it very enjoyable.

How many Jensen Healeys are left in the UK? According to DVLA there are around 260 Jensen Healeys licenced and on the road, with a further 180 SORN’d (exist but not roadworthy). Additionally, there are 37 Jensen GTs licensed with a further 22 SORN’d. That said, we often see cars we’ve not known about re-appearing. However, they were built at pretty well the lowest quality point of British cars in the early seventies, with cheap fittings, poor steel and questionable build quality. Also, they’ve never really had the cachet of their Austin Healey siblings, despite leading in several areas of vehicle technology. It’s a shame but no wonder there aren’t many left.

On the positive side, I’m really keen to capture as much information about Jensen Healeys and their ownership over the years. The Jensen Healey marque is blessed with access to rather better factory records than some other vehicles and if you’re interested in the history of your Jensen Healey,

I’d be happy to tell you what we know. But I’d also be hugely grateful if you could complete our register form and maybe even add a photo or two? It would make a huge difference to what we know.

For those that like working on their cars, the Club owns almost a full set of Jensen Healey special tools; do contact me if you want to borrow any of them - full details are published in the Workshop Manual.

So, thank you for taking part and we look forward to receiving your completed form, along with any photos and documentation you may be able to let us see and please feel free to contact me with any Jensen Healey issues.

Jim Palmer